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US Senate Postpones Internet Tax Ban Vote – A vote on extending the "Internet Tax Ban" has been delayed until January 2004 when the Senate returns from vacation. The ban would make permanent the ban on taxing internet access (Cable/DSL/Dialup) services. As a result of intense lobbying by both sides, a compromise bill MAY extend the ban for 2 more years. The main stumbling block is the definition of what is "internet access". A group of State governors is lobbying to exclude "phone services" from the definition. This would allow State and Federal taxing authorities to tax it like land-line phone and cellular services. These taxes add 20-50% to your total bill! We recommend US voters continue to compel their Federal representatives to recommend that phone services be INCLUDED in the permanent tax exemption. Contact your elected representatives now at: http://www.congress.org Recent News Article from Newspaper Source New Country Code for Calls Terminating on the Internet The regulatory body that sets international telephone country code assignments, The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has now provided a country code for the internet to enable people to make calls from a regular phone line and terminate those calls to an internet phone gateway. The new country code is +87810. If it is accepted by the "mainstream" long distance carriers, it will enable people using regular telephones to dial people who use the Internet for voice communications. Initially, the assigment of new internet phone numbers (numbers tied to a fixed or relative IP address) will be handled by Free World Dialup. It is free to join and get an internet number (currently 5-digits). The ability to access the new country code is left up to each long distance carrier. Currently only one country allows termination to the new 87810 country code, Austria. It is expected that more countries will adopt the new country code as the Free World Dialup membership grows (currently 20,000 members). For more information: World Telephone Number Guide -General Explanation Press Release- Feb 2003 Cnet News and VISIONng Listing of PC phone providers compatible with Free World Dialup Click Here VoIP User Discussion Postings Current Developments AmeriVoice - Lowest Unlimited Long Distance $29.99/month AmeriVoice offers a unique unlimited long distance service plan at a rock-bottom price of $29.99 per month. The service requires the purchase of an automatic call routing devise (approx. $19.99). Call routing is automatic, no access numbers are required to be dialed. Long distance calls dialed are routed directly through AmVoice without having to dial any access or PIN numbers. Local calls are routed to your local phone carrier. The service supports fax machines. At this time the service is limited to residential useage. Service covers the continental 48 states, excludes Alaska and Hawaii. Service Review go to TechTV Company Website AmVoice.com 
Back to TopOur list of the Lowest Long Distance Rates in the Nation Click Here Tell-A-Friend About 2.9 cents per minute long distance Send this page to a friend Click Here Free Conference Call Bridge Many conference call services charge a 10 to 20 cent per minute per participant fee that can be cut to a fraction using a new free conference call bridge service and discount long distance services. FreeConference.com now offers a unique service that is completely free. You can arrange a conference call in a matter of minutes or plan ahead days in advance. The service automatically emails all the participants along with instructions as to how to gain access to the call. By linking it with a discount long distance service like Onesuite.com, a toll-free conference call can be hosted for 2.9 cents per minute per participant. For More Information http://www.FreeConference.com Flat Rate Unlimited Long Distance $29.99 Per Month A long distance retailer that prided itself for not selling flat rate unlimited long distance, Cognigen, has just partnered with one of the largest flat rate unlimited long distance providers- ZeroCents. The company delivers unlimited domestic calling to residential customers in the continental United States (48 contiguous states) for a cost of $29.99 per month. This covers both in-state and state-to-state calls. ZeroCents operates a national, private, packet-switched fiber-optic communications network that transports converged services. ZeroCents provides an on-line personal account manager that allows customers to view calls in real-time, check payments and update account information. For More Information: http://www.ZeroCents.com
Back to TopAdd a Phone Line Using Only Your DSL Connection Now you don't need a computer to make PC-to-Phone calls. Currently Deltathree and Buddyphone offer an interface that enables you to access their service over your existing DSL connection. You can do this by adding a Cisco ATA 186 unit (approx. $150) to a common DSL router. A regular phone plugs into the Cisco unit. By configuring the Cisco unit with your PC-to-Phone account information, you will be able to make and receive phone calls using just your DSL connection. You must have a PC-to-Phone service account with a provider that accomodates the Cisco unit. The quality of calls using the Cisco unit is on average better than PC-to-Phone calls. We have listed the leading carriers that can link with the Cisco unit below. For more information: http://www.nikotel.com - Inbound & Outbound Calls http://www.iconnecthere.com - Inbound & Outbound Calls http://www.vonage.com - Inbound & Outbound Calls http://www.cisco.com - Info on Cisco ATA 186
Back to TopNet2phone Ends Free 2 Minute Calls 7/1/2002 Net2phone has been offering free trial minutes for customers to test the quality of their PC-to-Phone service. Net2phone offered free calls of up to 2 mintues in length to anywhere in the continental US. Effective July 1, 2002, you will not be able to make calls using their service unless you set up a prepaid account and pay their per minute rates. Rates for calls in the continental US are 2 cents per minute. For more information http://www.net2phone.com Phone Calls via Internet on Increase Phone calls over the internet have grown in recent years as a direct result of no government regulation and the increase in broadband use. Currently 8% of all global phone traffic is carried over the internet. In April, 2002, India dropped its ban on internet telephone businesses, internet calls in the US avoid all federal and state taxes; businesses are using broadband internet connections with inexpensive Cisco routers to carry inter-office phone traffic with existing telephone equipment at no cost. As more individuals and businesses acquire faster (broadband) internet connections, they are finding that they can avoid all long distance charges at little or no cost. Many companies accept the limitations on call quality in exchange for reductions in corporate overhead. With the added push for businesses to cut costs, the growth of the telephony industry will continue.
Back to TopLaunch of Disposable Cellphones in Doubt Many companies were promising delivery of disposable cellphones in stores by the end of 2001 and not one of them has delivered one phone to date. The reasons cited by many industry analysts sheds doubt that consumers will ever see these phones in stores anytime soon. The problem with delivering these phones includes the need for FCC approval (which has only been issued to 1 company to date - Cyclone Phone); major telecom players like Nokia and Motorola have shied away from the market so far, apparently because they don't regard it as a viable or lucrative business; no disposable vendor has yet reached an agreement with any of the major wireless networks to place calls (AT&T, Cingular, Sprint); in September, 2001, the FBI was concerned that the use of disposable phones could be used by terrorists to make calls in the US anonymously. For the time being the only thing being delivered is broken promises and more media hype. Here are the main players in the disposable market: http://www.cyclonephone.com http://www.hop-on.com http://www.dtcproducts.com
Back to TopState Taxes on Cellular Phones - 10 Highest States Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) examined taxes consumers pay as part of wireless phone service and idenified 10 states where taxes are the highest. The CTIA claims California has the highest wireless tax rate of 19.6% with Florida following at 17.8% . Virginia, New York, Nebraska and Texas, as well as Illinois, Tennessee Mississippi and Pennsylvania, rounded out the list, respectively. CTIA added that wireless bills could increase even more if the federal government passes an ordinance to double the amount a wireless subscriber pays to subsidize rural telephone companies. For more information: http://www.wow-com.com/
Back to TopWorldCom Offers "The Neighborhood" Unlimited Phone Service WorldCom, the second largest long-distance carrier, announced it is going to provide local telephone service in at least 32 states. WorldCom intends to eventually extend its local phone service into all 48 contiguous states by early 2003. Operating under the MCI Group, the local services will be marketed as "The Neighborhood" and will unify local and long-distance services under one bill with unlimited domestic calling, regardless of minutes used or time of day. The Neighborhood will be priced between $49 and $59 depending on the customer's state. In February, long-distance carrier AT&T Corp. launched a new long distance calling plan that allows residential customers to call other AT&T subscribers and talk as long as they want for a flat monthly fee of $19.95. Unlike the WorldCom offer, the AT&T Unlimited plan levies 7 cents per minute for calls to non-AT&T subscribers and does not include local telephone service. For more information: http://www.mci.com/
Back to TopAT&T Prepaid Wireless to Launch $10 Phone Card On April 2, 2002, AT&T will launch a $10 prepaid cellular phone-time card in stores. It will have the same expiration period as existing prepaid cellular phone cards- 45 days. The launch will lower the effective cost of an AT&T prepaid phone plan to $6.67 per month. For consumers who need a cellphone just for emergencies and occasional calls, it is much more cost effective than the lowest price traditional cellular phone plan. The $10 prepaid cellular phone card will not be available in stores until April 2, 2002, however, you can buy it now if you recharge your time over the phone using a credit or debit card. Minutes are used up at a 50 cent per minute rate for the local-calling plan (85 cents/min national-plan). For more information: http://www.wirelessflatrate.com
Back to TopBroadband Internet Useage Exceeds Dial-up Access Nielsen//NetRatings, a joint venture of NetRatings Inc. and Nielsen Media Research, reported that Internet users with high-speed connections collectively spent more time online in January than those with slow-speed hook-ups. It was the first time that monthly broadband usage surpassed dial-up modems, based on the number of hours spent online. The study showed broadband users collectively spent 1.19 billion hours online in January, or 51% of total time spent online. Dial-up users spent 1.14 billion hours online, or 49% of total time. Broadband usage has surged in the past year, with hours spent online rising 64% from January 2001, Meanwhile, dial-up usage fell 3% from a year earlier. The rise of broadband users and the proliferation of Internet applications targeted at broadband users were reasons cited for why broadband advanced past dial-up useage. For more information: http://www.nielsen-netratings.com
Back to TopYahoo Adds Voice-Activated Dialing Yahoo! by Phone users can now navigate through personalized services such as e-mail, voicemail and the latest news and information by using any telephone and their voice. The new service is part of a deal between Yahoo and Nuance Communications Inc., a provider of speech-recognition software. With the new service, customers can dial a number from any phone in the United States to access their Yahoo account and speak the name or number of a person listed in their Yahoo address book. Net2Phone's telecom network then completes the call to anywhere in the country. AOL and Microsoft offer similar phone-based options through AOL Anywhere and MSN Messenger, respectively. The new voice-activated service is included in the base Yahoo! by Phone service fee of $4.95 per month, but phone-to-phone calls cost 10 cents a minute within the United States, while PC-to-phone calls cost two cents a minute over Net2phone's telephone gateway. For more information: Yahoo! by Phone CNET News.com
Back to TopPeer-to-Peer Long Distance Possibilites Software applications are spreading that use peer-to-peer technology made popular by Napster. These applications expand the file sharing concept to local telephone lines over the internet. With a peer-to-peer PC-to-Phone long distance system, members of the peer-to-peer group have both an internet connection and a connection to a local phone line running simultaneously. Any member of the peer group can initiate a local phone call using another peer member's phone line that is not being used by another peer member. This makes for some interesting possibilities. For example, assume you have 2 people on opposite sides of the world say Tokyo and New York both have the same peer-to-peer software running on their PC's, the person in Japan can initiate a local phone call in New York from his computer in Japan and vice versa. If a peer-to-peer PC-to-Phone network grew as large as Napster was,(millions of members) it would virtually eliminate the domestic & international long distance business. Two leading groups beta testing this new application are very far from any sizable coverage. They include Jeff Pulver's Free World Dialup and David Jones' PhoneBazooka.com Two big stumbling blocks to expansion include the need to keep a free phone line available for peer members use and the need to initiate calls using a PC (usually requiring a broadband connection). A more achievable application is in a business application (such as Groove.com) - a business located in many cities could create a large network of peer computers for nationwide company voice and data communication. For more information: Free World Dialup - PC-to-Phone Peer-to-Peer PhoneBazooka.com - PC-to-Phone Peer-to-Peer Groove.net - PC-to-PC Peer-to-Peer
Back to TopAT&T to Announce Unlimited Calling to Other AT&T Customers AT&T plans to offer its long-distance customers a new monthly calling plan for $19.95 that will give them unlimited calls to other AT&T customers and a rate of seven cents a minute for other calls. Similar to the old "MCI-friends & family" plan, AT&T's goal is to keep what's left of it's market share in advance of the baby bell's reentry into the long distance market this year. AT&T hopes the plan will have more longevity than the old MCI plan. For More Information: Reuters News AT&T Announces Increase in Rates Recent Story Tell-a-Friend Campaign to Lower Phone Rates 1888usa.com has launched a "tell a friend" email service to counter the rate increases announced by the major carriers to start in February 2002. Discount long distance providers charging less than 5 cents per minute have little or no marketing budget. We are providing a form letter that visitors to our site can use to send friends and family a list of providers charging less than 5 cents per minute. We will be adding other campaigns including free faxes and PC-to-Phone services over the next month Tell-A-Friend- Long Distance Under 5 Cents/Minute Tell-A-Friend- Send Free Faxes Over the Internet
Back to TopSupreme Court Decision Benifits Broadband Internet Expansion In a win for the broadband cable companies, the US Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to set (relatively low) fees that cable companies pay power companies for attaching wires used for high-speed Internet connections to utility poles. The case involved price caps imposed by the FCC since the 1970's on prices that utilities charged the then-fledgling cable industry. Originally, the wires were used solely to carry cable TV signals. Today, however, the same wires are used for high-speed internet and data traffic. Currently, rates are between $5 and $7 a pole per year. The utility companies were expecting to get as much as $50 a pole per year. With millions of poles involved, this would have cost cable companies billions. The ruling is expected to help expand the lucrative broadband market, benefiting cable giants AT&T/Comcast and AOL Time Warner. For more info see article at Yahoo News
Back to TopAT&T, WorldCom and Sprint Raise Rates with Demand Falling Telecom industry analyst, JP Morgan, announced that AT&T, WorldCom and Sprint are expected to raise long-distance rates by an average of 5 to 10 percent for consumer long-distance calls. Price hikes are a direct result of the recent corporate restructurings. According to annual statistics of the major carriers published by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the average long distance toll in the U.S. was approximately $.14/minute in 1999. This average includes international calls, which, at $0.56/minute are comparatively expensive. A domestic State-to-State call, which is more common, averaged $0.11/minute for the major carriers. In contrast, the prepaid phone cards listed by 1888usa.com continue to charge under 4 cents per minute (In-State and State-to-State calls), international rates are also well under 10 cents per minute for most of Europe and Eastern Asia. As more consumers become educated about alternate discount prepaid calling plans sold over the internet, we believe average long distance rates will continue to drop as consumers opt-out of traditional long distance calling plans sold by the major carriers. For more information: ABC News - Hidden Fees Benefiting Phone Companies http://1888usa.com - Prepaid Calling Card Comparison Chart http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats - FCC - Official Statistics Page
Back to TopAT&T/Comcast Merger - Local Phone Service over Broadband AT&T Broadband, the biggest cable company in the United States, has decided to merge with Comcast. The $72 billion deal will create a cable giant, with more than 21 million subscribers and access to more than 30 million households. That reach will help the new company take on the local telephone companies in offering both local telephone service and high-speed Internet services over the same cable lines. AT&T has spent considerable time building up its ability to offer telephone service over the cable network; the original reason AT&T built it's expanding cable network was in order to compete with the local phone companies' dominant networks. With a reach of 30 million households, AT&T Comcast can bring its own local phone service to a level that can compete with the powerful local phone companies. It is believed that the remaining pieces of AT&T, the business and consumer long distance service, will be spun off as their own tracking stock or they may be bought by one of the Baby Bells. For more information see YahooNews
Back to TopSpam Email Expected to Explode in 2002 Marketing analysts project that email volume will likely grow 45 percent next year, up from recent annual growth rates of 40 percent. A lot of it will be spam. POP based e-mail programs - Microsoft's Outlook and Netscape's Messenger include custom filtering features. Smarter and heavier duty e-mail management tools are also available from a handful of technology start-ups. Mailshell.com offers a basic free service with the ability to set up an unlimited number of virtual email accounts to block your true email address. For example, John Doe might use "amazon(at)jdoe.mailshell.com" when shopping at Amazon.com and "yahoo(at)jdoe.mailshell.com" when registering at Yahoo.com. E-mail sent to those addresses would then go to Mailshell, which would automatically forward them to Doe's real e-mail box. If Doe is sick of mail coming from a particular source, he could delete the alias from the Mailshell site without losing e-mail from other sources. If you don't want to go to the trouble of creating a new alias every time you sign up for an online service, several software products promise to block junk mail from reaching your main address. The top-sellers in this niche include Spam Killer and Spam Buster. Most of the anti-spam software programs aren't 100 percent effective, though, because spam senders are constantly figuring out ways around the roadblocks.
Back to TopDialpad Pulls Plug on Free PC-to-Phone Calls Dialpad, as one of the largest and most popular providers of free PC-to-Phone calls, has pulled the plug on free PC-to-Phone calls. Recently, Dialpad limited free calls to 5 minutes each. Then in November, 2001, the parent company of Dialpad, Serome Technology Inc, announced it would no longer provide funding to the internet provider of free PC-to-Phone calls and that Dialpad may file for bankruptcy protection. In place of the free service, Dialpad offers unlimited PC-to-Phone calling to anywhere in the continental US for $9.99 per month. Dialpad has a subscriber base of over 12,000,000 members.
Back to TopNew Software Records Instant Messenger Sessions Ascentive, Inc. has released a new version of its BeAware computer monitoring software which includes a ChatWatch feature that allows parents to better monitor children's (and spouse's!) internet instant messenger activity (AOL,MSN,Yahoo, etc.). Many tools currently available provide content filtering and block access to objectionable sites, but instant messenger sessions have fallen outside of the scope of monitoring programs. Also, unlike email or web surfing, instant messenger sessions leave no visible log on a hard drive. The ChatWatch feature essentially records instant messenger sessions similar to a VCR that can be played back at a later time. It also provides a search feature to enable keyword searches of instant messenger sessions. For more information http://www.Ascentive.com
Back to TopAmericanGreetings.com to Charge for e-Greeting Cards Announcing that "the bill collectors finally caught up with us," AmericanGreetings, BlueMountain.com and Egreetings.com have replaced their popular free email greeting card services with a monthly pay service. To access and send most of the network's cards, consumers must pay $11.95 a year. The company blames a drop in advertising dollars for the need to charge for the service. You can still compose and send free greeting cards on the internet with other popular services including: Free e-Greeting Cards: Yahoo Greetings, Flowgo.com and Hallmark.com - Happy Holidays! FBI to Impose Carnivore-Like System on VoIP Providers Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition that The FBI sees the current variety of telecom services as limiting its ability to tap into criminal suspects' communications, and it wants phone companies to make changes in their networks to improve surveillance. In a confidential report the FBI said "many new packet-based services and architectures have been developed which impede or even preclude law enforcement's full and proper execution" of its investigative powers. When communications are transmitted via packets, a message is broken into numerous pieces, each encoded so it can be transmitted separately -- sometimes over different routes -- and then reassembled at its destination. The process makes it difficult to monitor communications. Complicating matters, there are many different ways to send voice signals via packet (VoIP) technology. Carnivore allows the government to tap directly into the data stream for e-mails to sift out the information it wants. In November, the FBI summoned about 100 industry representatives (including Verizon, Cisco & Motorola) to a closed-door meeting in Tucson, Ariz., to explain its technical requirements. One participant said "There was a hint in the presentation that if somebody deployed a new technology and the FBI couldn't intercept it, the FBI would expect the service provider to stop providing the service" until tapping methods were available. Industry experts project the cost to comply with the FBI requirements will exceed $1 billion dollars.
Back to TopDialpad May File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Serome Technology Inc. announced that its U.S. affiliate, Dialpad Communications, is considering filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to Dow Jones. A final decision on the issue hasn’t been made yet, Serome said. Dialpad, a Silicon Valley, Calif.-based web phone company, offers free web-based phone services. At the end of September, Serome owned a 38.7 percent stake in Dialpad. For more info see Yahoo News (Reuters)
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